From Pharrell Williams telling Dazed he exfoliates like a “narcissistic madman” to Frank Ocean advising fans not to wear retinol during the day (“it makes you more sun-sensitive, so you wanna throw that on at night,” he told GQ), more and more men are opening up about their skincare routine and it’s great. Now Pete Davidson has joined the conversation, sharing his struggles with his skin and what he’s doing to tackle the issue.
The SNL star appeared on the cover of Paper magazine this week without his famous dick but with his famous Big Dick Energy still very much intact. In the accompanying interview with friend and actor Tommy Dorfman, Davidson reveals how his health struggles have impacted his skin after being asked to drop his skincare regime.
“My skin's insanely bad because I have Crohn's, so I have like no immune system. So, I get cystic acne and I have to take extra-special care of my skin so it can still look shitty,” Davidson tells Dorfman before going on to say that he has started on Accutane in an effort to combat the acne. “Now I'm on Accutane, so I've been told I'm gonna be a little bit of a BITCH for the next six months.” While Accutane is commonly used to treat severe acne, it has also been linked to a number of side effects including depression and mood swings.
In the interview, Davidson also speaks about being sexualised and how the intense public scrutiny over his appearance in the last few years affected him emotionally. “I think it's very... weird. I don't really pay attention to it. But I do know that (the gaze) is either, "Ye-YESSS!" or "FUCK NO!" There's no happy medium with me,” he says. “When enough people call you ugly, it definitely gets to you. For me, personally, I can't block that stuff out. That's why I had to get rid of the Internet and stuff. But you definitely have to get to a place where you're just like, ‘This is how I look. Alright.’ You know?”
We’ll leave you with the best part of the interview, when Davidson shared with us all his “huge” crush on actor Leonardo DiCaprio. “Well, I used to jerk off to Leonardo DiCaprio... Uhh, like his acting.” You're not alone, Pete.